Much of the press these days is devoted to the undeniable increase in job losses and wide-ranging business hardship across the nation. Less talked about is a core backdrop of forward-thinking corporates and small to medium sized enterprises that are providing a contrasting resilience to the marketplace. Many companies are utilising this period to bolster their engineering teams with talented resources often difficult to attract and secure in a bull market. For many, even in adversity there is opportunity.

From a staffing perspective, several general trends have become apparent across Australian business:

• Hardest hit have been global financial markets, resources and mining and multinational corporates (with U.S. or European-based head offices)
• Increase in requests for contractor staff as a method of risk mitigation
• Greater interstate movement of technologists for work
• A trend towards open source platforms and technology environments
• General rationalisation of salary levels and contract rates

To view the complete 2009 Software Engineering & Real Time Systems Salary Survey click the below.